Night Shift Nails

1970s bathroom vanity nails

Nailed it!

My coworker Stephanie has this new mug from Starbucks that changes color depending on the angle you are looking at it (duochrome / multichrome).  I told her that on Monday I will wear a polish that matches her mug.  

Illamasqua Rampage with FingerPaints Flecked accent.  Rampage was my last untried polish!  0 untrieds!!!  

Well, my coworker just gave me a set with 7 mini polishes in it.  So I guess I’m back up to 7 untrieds!  But, I can use all of them in one manicure because they are for nail art.  SO, I’ll count them as one.

Tumblr is acting weird this AM.  First, it would not upload these photos as drafts from my phone.  I gave the photos 24 hours to appear in my drafts, and uploaded them twice and they never showed.  Then, I downloaded them to my computer and tried to make the post from my desktop.  Tumblr won’t let me move any of the photos around.  It won’t let me put 3 in a row, or move any of the positions.  Annoying!!!  I don’t know what’s going on.

So, you get 2 photos that are backwards from how I wanted them displayed.  Illamasqua Baptiste on the right, and with a Sally Hansen Copper Penny glitter accent on the left.

Zoya Stevie

A textured polish.  Zoya has discontinued these so once they are sold out on the website, they are gone.  I like their textures but I don’t love this shade on me.  I didn’t want it but got sucked in to the limited edition thang.  

Illamasqua Poke 

 I did not love this in the bottle but so many people said it was their favorite Illa... 

Illamasqua Melange

A fellow nail boarder stated she wasn’t too excited about this polish and had decided she didn’t like the Illamasqua brand.  I offered to buy the polish off her or swap and she offered it to me for free!  This polish sells for about $50 if you buy it from Illamasqua or off Ebay since they no longer distribute to the US.

It arrived yesterday and it’s divine.  This is 1 coat and the formula was perfect.

Illamasqua Phallic

I had to get this considering my new-found Illamasqua obsession.  It’s one of their more well-known shades and I had considered picking it up before since I love blues, but I never did because I suspected it would be too dark.  

Yeah, this is one of those almost-black shades.  It looks sparkly in direct sunlight, but in regular indoor lighting, you can’t really see the shimmer, and it looks like a dark navy blue.

OPI Sheer Tints layered over Zoya Tomoko

OPI Push and Shove

Got this recently on sale.  It was part of a Gwen Stefani collection and is supposedly the most chrome-y of the chrome finishes out there, the closest thing you can get to the metallic Minx wraps.  It has to be put over a special base coat.

This is 2 coats and I think it looks great.  It does highlight any nail ridges but those don’t bother me much.  It didn’t dry brushstrokey at all.  I should have done a comp with some of the other silvers I have.

It is weird that it came with a mini basecoat.  The basecoat will run out before the polish unless you are using 3 or 4 coats.  Then what do you do?  Probably nothing because I never use up a polish.

Supposedly the wear on this is hours not days, but it wore well on me for 48 hours.  That was over the weekend and not at work where I wash my hands 30 times a night, though.

Water marble accent over Nails Inc Bamboo White

Nails Inc Bamboo White

One of my top 10 most expensive polishes...  It was $25.  This is part of a 2 color limited edition set put out by Victoria Beckham for Nails Inc.  It has ridiculous Posh packaging and the bottle is made from handblown Venetian glass or something.  (The other color was a red-orange and not my thing so I just got this one).

Whatever, can’t we skip the luxe packaging and sell it for $18?  

It’s supposed to be a color that flatters everyone.  Despite these photos making me look like I have lobster hands, the color was very flattering IRL and I love it.  The formula was great and it wears well.  

Illamasqua Force

So, this is a disappointment.  Force is supposed to be a vibrant, true blue creme.  But, apparently the pigments are unstable.  I didn’t know this - when Googling swatches of it before I bought, I was seeing all the reviews from when people had first bought it.  I know of some polishes where the pigments were unstable and they changed color over time (I even own one - Color Club Disco Dress that went from neon purple to brownish purple dud), but I didn’t know Force was one of them.

I ordered Force from Squared Nails Blog Sale on Storenvy.com.  That was my first time using Storenvy.  Since MUA discontinued their swapping program, and since Ebay does not allow the sale of used polish, this is one way to get a rare polish that has been used only once or twice.  I paid $15 plus $3 shipping, which is a lot, to me, for a polish (new or otherwise).  I probably own 10 polishes that I’ve paid that much for.

I was disappointed to see that Force looked like a dusty blurple in the bottle instead of the bright blue I was expecting.  When I posted on MUA about it, I was informed that Force is notorious for its unstable pigment.  I was pretty peeved that Squared Nails sold this polish without disclosing its state.  Also, she used a swatch photo from Vampy Varnish on the listing, instead of a photo of the bottle.  I should have asked for a bottle photo but I didn’t even think to.  I kind of think of us polish collectors as kindred spirits.  I can’t imagine trying to trick someone into buying Disco Dress from me and not saying that it had changed color.  

I emailed the owner of Squared Nails Blog Sale and she never replied (over a week ago).  Her Storenvy page states no refunds and she’s not responsible once the polish leaves her hands.  I guess I learned an $18 lesson.

I tried to wear the polish today.  It goes on fine and is a dusty blurple color. However, once you topcoat it, a reddish layer separates out on top and you can see it around the edges.  The polish leans slightly less blue than in my photos.  I think I could live with it if it didn’t develop layers around the edge like that.  I tried 2 different topcoats and they both did that.  It gives almost a jelly-like look to the polish, but not in a good way.  

What I see at my “manicure station” aka my desk.  :)  I keep all my polishes in two little metal cabinets from Ikea called Helmer.  They sit under my desk on either side of my chair.  

To the right, in front of my printer, I keep a container with all my manicure essentials - stuff I use every time I do my nails.  It has cotton balls, acetone-based remover, pure acetone for cleanup, polish thinner, base and top coat, cuticle oil and lotion, and nail files, a buffer block, cuticle nippers, and a tiny brush to clean up around the cuticles with acetone.  I also have some rubber office finger thingys that I use to soak off glitter polish to make the removal easier.  The essentials are too tall to fit in one of the Helmer drawers, unfortunately, so they sit out all the time.

To the left, in front of my computer, I keep a small container with my untried polishes.  They have to sit there until I use them once, then they get filed away in the Helmers.  :)  Right now I have all the polishes from the new OPI Color Paints collection there.  They are designed to be especially good for lots of types of nail art, but when I saw that people were water marbling with them, I had to try that first.

That side is where Darcy comes over for some petting every once in a while.  :)